Atlanta General Manager Danny Ferry, who played in Cleveland for 10 years and served as its GM for five, hopes to bring the success he found with the Cavs to the Hawks. "I would love to win at a very high level," says Ferry, who was also in San Antonio's front office.Johnny Crawford, Atlanta Journal Constitution

ATLANTA, Ga. — Hawks General Manager Danny Ferry was sitting in an empty Philips Arena after practice Thursday, talking about his vision for the franchise he joined June 25 -- the first time in 22 years he has worked somewhere other than Cleveland or San Antonio.

"We're going to do things well here," said Ferry, who also carries the title of president of basketball operations. "We're going to invest in things that our players see. We're going to invest in things that our fans see. We're going to invest in a lot of things you don't see, from behind the scenes. Our owners are committed to do so and felt like that was important.

"We'll make this place have a really strong foundation. That goes in steps, and we're taking those steps."

In the past five months, it seems as if the Hawks, under Ferry, took giant steps -- and at a rapid pace. Not that the Hawks were in bad shape, having been to the playoffs five straight seasons. But Ferry wasted no time in making changes.

Three days after he was hired, the Hawks drafted John Jenkins of Vanderbilt and Mike Scott of Virginia. Within a week, Ferry had hired Wes Wilcox from the Cavs as his assistant general manager and later named the Cavs' Garin Narain as his vice president of public relations. On July 11, he traded All-Star Joe Johnson to the Brooklyn Nets for five players, a first- and second-round pick and other draft considerations and acquired Devin Harris from the Utah Jazz for Marvin Williams. The next day, he signed free agent Lou Williams, and on July 16, he acquired veteran sharpshooter Kyle Korver from the Chicago Bulls in exchange for cash.

Whew.

The remade Hawks started slowly this season, but they have come into tonight's game against the Cavs with the longest current winning streak in the league -- six games -- and a 9-4 record, including a 5-2 mark at home.

Ferry said he didn't come to the job with any sort of mandate to shake things up.

"I didn't know how this team could be changed from a roster standpoint," he said Thursday. "Trades, oftentimes, it's timing. Maybe two weeks before, that trade wouldn't have happened.

"I think that was a win-win situation. I think we were in a place that, within this new CBA [collective bargaining agreement] and with where we were as a team . . . it was a hard decision. You don't like to trade good players. But it was probably the appropriate decision for us moving forward. I think for Brooklyn, it was the right decision. They got a good player with Deron Williams, and moving into a new arena and all. I think it was good for Joe, probably. It's an exciting opportunity for him as well. I think it was one of those situations where everyone walked away feeling like it was good for both teams and the player."

Ferry admitted it was also a hard decision leaving San Antonio, where he had won an NBA title in 2003. He and wife, Tiffany, and their five children, ages 6 to 16, have looked at moving to Atlanta as an adventure, even if it has taken Ferry some time to adjust to a place where he doesn't know all the ushers and security guards as he did in San Antonio and Cleveland, where he played for 10 seasons.

Asked what one thing he would like to bring to Atlanta after his five years as the Cavs' general manager, he laughed and said, "I would love to win at a very high level."

Indeed, under Ferry and his assistant, Chris Grant, the Cavs had a 272-138 record, a .663 winning percentage, recorded the two best seasons in franchise history in 2008-09 and 2009-10 and reached the NBA Finals in 2007. Ferry was part of an operation that included coach Mike Brown and star LeBron James.

He would like to build a similarly successful franchise in Atlanta -- in a similar fashion.

"I think, from an organizational standpoint, I felt like we were strong and had good people," he said, mentioning Grant and former Assistant General Manager Lance Blanks, now in Phoenix, among others. "That's one thing that I hope here -- that the people I work with grow and develop. That's really the [Gregg Popovich] and R.C. Buford model in San Antonio. You're given so much exposure, and your opinions and your work count. I felt like we had that in Cleveland, and I want to have that here as well -- find really good people and really talented people, trust them and grow together."

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